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as shiny as if freshly laid
You are a melancholy fruit.
Solanum Melongena.
Every animal is sad
after eggplant.Erica Jong, The Eggplant Epithalamion

It is a sort of dream, which coincides
With the pacific relaxations called
Preferred Reality. Men who forget
Lovingly chopped-up cloves of ail, who scorn
The job of slicing two good peppers thinly,
Then two large onions and six aubergines -
Those long, impassioned and imperial purples -
Which, with six courgettes, you sift with saltDouglas Dunn, Ratatouille

Eggplant, the bruise-fruit, heals
in a darkroom as photographs
of contusions develop.

Gathered in a farmer's truck,
eggplants appear ready to travel
into outer space, there to visit
purple planets in our galaxy.

The mayor has disappeared.
He was last seen getting into
a taxicab near the produce-market.
He was accompanied by an eggplant,
which he carried in a burgundy valise.

Shiny, soft, and smooth,
eggplants suggest patent-leather
shoes worn by a species whose feet
differ from ours in certain respects.

Although I dislike eating
its slippery flesh, I pay
aubergine certain respects.

There is eggplant. There
it is - a pliable stone
sitting in purple patience
waiting for us to go away.Hans Ostrom, Aubergine

Back at Nijo, his Murasaki, now on the eve of womanhood, was very
pretty indeed. So red could after all be a pleasing color, he thought. She
was delightful, at artless

People with nothing to hide don't usually feel the need to say so.Michonne, The Walking Dead

People could say a lot of negative things about the apocalypse, but there was no arguing the air quality in Los Angeles had really improved.Peter Clines, Ex-Heroes

Creating a zombie in Haiti is illegal, as article 246 of the Haitian penal code states:
It shall also be qualified as attempted murder the employment which may be made against any person of substances which, without causing actual death, produce a lethargic coma more or less prolonged. If, after the person had been buried, the act shall be considered murder no matter what result follows.Dr Austin, The Zombie Institute of Theoretical Studies, Glasgow University

blood is really warm
it's like drinking hot chocolate
but with more screamingRyan Mecum, Zombie Haiku

Bet you were wondering if I was real, probably hoping I wasn't. Well, here I am. I guess this old world gets a little smaller toward the end, huh? Merle Dixon, The Walking Dead

The Zombie Combat Manual is a book on combat techniques against zombies. I own it and feel that it is a well written book and gives good advice. I would personally give it 5 stars and suggest you read it. You also should read other books on this subject. You never know.The Zombie Combat Manual: A Guide to Fighting the Living Dead by Roger Ma reviewed on goodreads.com

What are heavy? Sea-sand and sorrow;
What are brief? Today and tomorrow;
What are frail? Spring blossoms and youth;
What are deep? The ocean and truth. Christina Rossetti, What Are Heavy?

Fortune, honour, beauty, youth,
Are but blossoms dying;
Wanton pleasures, doting love,
Are but shadows flying. Thomas Campion, What If A Day Or A Month Or A Year

without regret
they fall and scatter
cherry blossomshaiku by Issa

They have created the beauty of cherry blossoms.from Sugata Sanshiro, directed by Akira Kurosawa

Spring in Japan. No, not yet. Not yet. The air is usually already warmer by the time of Buddha's birthday on 8 April. But this year spring has kept feinting an attack and then has hastily retreated. This week it has felt like we were still in December.

But the cherry blossoms have fallen. The cherry blossom viewing parties have all been held.

Cherry blossom viewing can be poignant. Weather forecasts give detailed forecasts of when the trees will be in full bloom. Some of the drinking and karaoke parties in the parks are superficial. But for many Japanese people there is still sadness behind the beauty. The trees bloom. T
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I was determined to go to Japan to outstrip them all, to learn judo. It wasn't to
go to the Olympics, it was to become really, really good at judo.Doug Rogers

How very Canadian - I had a one-way ticket to the Olympics.Doug Rogers

In the tunnel
the black taxi roof
a stream of neonColin Oliver, haiku

Youth is not a time of life
it is a state of mind
it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees
it is a matter of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotionsSamuel Ullmann, Youth

There was a link on a judo site to an old documentary called Judoka. It's about a Canadian called Doug Rogers and his serious judo training in Japan. He was there from 1960 to 1965. He was obviously an exceptionally talented and determined judoka and he became one of the very best in the world. At the Tokyo Olympics in 1964 he won the heavyweight silver medal.

It's a very interesting documentary. It shows the training and life of a young martial artist in Japan. It was a simpler, more innocent time.

There is a nice scene of Doug Rogers doing randori free training in the Nippon Budokan. The Nippon Budokan is a huge martial arts hall in central Tokyo. It was constructed for the 1964 Olympics. Over the years it has been used for rock concerts and many artists have recorded Live at Budokan albums. The All-Japan Aikido demonstration is held there every year in May.

Long ago, before writing, you'd send someone a stone letter. A stone that suited the way you were feeling. From its weight and touch, they'd know how you felt. From a smooth stone they might get that you were happy, or from a rough one that you were worried about them.Masahiro Motoki, Departures

The Word in the desert
Is most attacked by voices of temptation,
The crying shadow in the funeral dance,
The loud lament of the disconsolate chimera.T S Eliot, The Four Quartets, Burnt Norton

I felt a funeral in my brain,
And mourners, to and fro,
Kept treading, treadingEmily Dickinson, I Felt A Funeral In My Brain

After the feast of tear-stuffed time and thistles
In a room with a stuffed fox and a stale fern,
I stand, for this memorial's sake, alone
In the snivelling hoursDylan Thomas, After The Funeral

Yet when this Victory's fame shall pass, as grand
And griefless as a rich man's funeral,
Thro' nations that look on with spell-bound eye,
While echoing plaudits ring from land to land,
Alas! will there be none among the good
And great and brave and free, to speak of all
The pale piled pestilence of flesh and bloodSydney Thompson Dobell, A Musing On A Victory

ARTICLE XXIV
1. Aerial bombardment is legitimate only when directed at a military objective, that is to say, an object of which the destruction or injury would constitute a distinct military advantage to th

This is how he grows: by being defeated, decisively,
by constantly greater beings.Rainer Maria Rilke, The Beholder

which one of them is raw, or baked in the sun or not,
so you might get to know one who is inactive and open,
pulling him down after throwing him over from the Chersonese
after hooking his leg with yours behind his knee
then after you turn his shoulder over,
you fall heavily upon himAristophanes, Knights

If I can catch him once upon the hip,
I will feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him. William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, act 1, scene 3

Like all who contended in the games, the Wrestlers were accustomed to rub their bodies with oil, partly to check the excessive perspiration occasioned by the heat and the violence of the exercises, and partly from an opinion that the oil gave the limbs a greater degree of pliancy and agility. As the smoothness occasioned by the oil would have prevented the combatants from grasping each other with firmness, it was customary for them, after being anointed, to roll themselves in the dust of the Stadium, or to be sprinkled with a fine sand kept for that purpose at Olympia. If in falling, one of the Wrestlers dragged his adversary along with him, the combat was continued on the ground, till one of the parties had forced the other to yield the victory.Jacob Robinson and Sidney Gilpin, Wrestling and Wrestlers

sinking sand
skin and bone
bring on the dancing horsesEcho and the Bunnymen, Bring on the Dancing Horses

I am a feather on the bright sky
I am the blue horse that runs in the plain
I am the fish that rolls, shining, in the water
I am the shadow that follows a child
I am the evening light, the lustre of meadows
I am an eagle playing with the windN Scott Momaday, The Delight Song of Tsoai-talee

somewhere up there he's waiting for me
and he knows that I'm coming' for him
and I just can't rest till I find
that raven black stallion that wears no man's brand
with a wild restless spirit like mineChris Ledoux, Caballo Diablo

Because the pleasure-bird whistles after the hot wires,
Shall the blind horse sing sweeter?
Convenient bird and beast lie lodged to suffer
The supper and knives of a mood.Dylan Thomas, Because The Pleasure-bird Whistles

Sometimes I have no more wit than a Christian or an ordinary man has; but I am a great eater of beef, and I believe that does harm to my wit.William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, act 1, scene 3

wild wild horses
we'll ride them
somedayRolling Stones, Wild Horses

My first aikido teacher Kinjo Asoh sensei liked art. His father was an artist. Asoh sensei had some pictures of horses. You could feel their power.

There is a kind of concise Japanese proverb called yojijukugo 四字熟語 よじじゅ&
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If you make every game a life-and-death thing, you're going to have problems. You'll be dead a lot.Dean Smith, basketball coach

Once you've done the mental work, there comes a point you have to throw yourself into the action and put your heart on the line. That means not only being brave, but being compassionate towards yourself, your teammates and your opponents.Phil Jackson, basketball coach

This is no democracy. It is a dictatorship. I am the law.Coach Herman Boone, Remember the Titans

Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play. It is bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, disregard of all rules and sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence.George Orwell, Shooting an Elephant

As to the moral phase of judo - not to speak of the discipline of the exercise room involving the observance of the regular rules of etiquette, courage, and perseverance, kindness to and respect for others, impartiality and fair play so much emphasized in Western athletic training - judo has special importance in Japan.Jigoro Kano

The coaches beat the athletes with bamboo swords and told them to die, a senior Japanese Olympic Committee official said. They also slapped the women's cheeks, shoved their breasts and kicked them.Asahi Shimbun

Jigoro Kano developed and codified modern judo from jujutsu techniques. But he also based his vision of judo on the principles of seiryoku zenyo - jita kyoei. The most efficient u
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What I say is, patience, and shuffle the cards. Miguel De Cervantes, Don Quixote

A man's idea in a card game is war - cruel, devastating and pitiless. A lady's idea of it is a combination of larceny, embezzlement and burglary.Finley Peter Dunne, Mr. Dooley on Making a Will

When I look up at
The wide-stretched plain of heaven,
Is the moon the same
That rose on Mount Mikasa
In the land of Kasuga? Abe no Nakamaro, Ogura Hyakunin Isshu

Uh, is this a game of chance?
Not the way I play it, no. W C Fields, My Little Chickadee

Last weekend in a community hall near where I live there was a karuta tournament. Karuta is a traditional Japanese card game. It's often played in the new year. The word karuta comes from Portuguese.

It's partly a literary memory game and partly a reaction speed battle.

The traditional game is based on a book of waka poems called the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu. It was compiled by Fujiwara no Teika in the thirteenth century in the Ogura district of Kyoto. It is a book of one hundred poems by one hundred poets. That is a simple concept for an anthology of poetry and there is a modern anthology of English poetry called 100 Poems by 100 Poets.

Now there are also karuta with many different themes and designs. There are sets based on popular comic characters like One Piece and Doraemon and sets for studying history or Shakespeare.